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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28924866">These Things Will Change</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/onethingsuniversal/pseuds/onethingsuniversal'>onethingsuniversal</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>The Prom (2020), The Prom - Sklar/Beguelin/Martin</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Again- but this time add an angry five-year-old, F/F, Fluff, Greenelan as Parents, New Parents, Puddles - Freeform, Rainbows, Rosie-Fic, Temper Tantrums, autumn walk, family outing</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-01-23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-01-23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-20 12:48:40</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>3,000</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28924866</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/onethingsuniversal/pseuds/onethingsuniversal</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>It wasn’t easy for Rosie, not having both of her parents undivided attention whenever she desired it, and despite the fountain of cuddles, she found herself getting frustrated about it pretty often, and being five and resultantly out of touch with her emotions she’d resorted to throwing the occasional tantrum or speaking back to either of her mom’s requests.</p><p>or</p><p>For reasons beyond Rosie's understanding her moms had another baby, to 'make up for it' (and all of the stress that came with her arriving home) they take her to the park so she can jump in some puddles- her favourite pass-time.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Alyssa Greene &amp; Emma Nolan, Alyssa Greene/Emma Nolan</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>8</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>34</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>These Things Will Change</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>hello everyone! this is a half-double post considering i posted only a couple hours ago, but this has been sat in my drafts for over a week now and the tag was lacking in new rosie content so i pulled through for you all - you're welcome ;)</p><p>seemingly i'm just good at writing exactly 3000 words. i definitely prefer the first half of this but considering i had barely an ounce of  muse for it a little while ago it isn't terrible.</p><p>anyway i hope you rosie fans (i know you're out there) like this and ofc a shoutout to kate (AnotherUsernameIllForget) for having a few of these ideas and giving me a final push to actually get this out into the world- for better or for worse.</p><p>(title ofc from change by tswift)(it is in fact still a joke but it's basically unavoidable at this point plus also where else would i get title ideas from??)</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The newborn bubble, simply, was nothing less than blissful for Emma and Alyssa, even if it had come with the rediscovery of constant diaper changes, sleepless nights and everything else that came alongside baby Juniper’s arrival that the parents had forgotten from their first experience of it. Plus, this time was different. This time it wasn’t only the new moms adjusting to the mighty change. No, this time they had another mouth to get fed, another tiny body to clothe, in the form of their first-born Rosie. As only children themselves, Emma and Alyssa didn’t have any of their own experiences to base how they wanted to deal with the change off of, but they knew for certain that they wanted Rosie to know just how much they loved her, and that the new arrival didn’t take away from that at all.</p><p>Rosie had been excited at the prospect of a baby sister, if not a little naïve to how much it would affect her life, but her main takeaway from the fourteen days that had passed since her sister had been born was how boring it had been.</p><p>To be fair to them, the parents had been as attentive to the five-year-old as they possibly could have been but caring for an infant was nothing less than a full-time job. Seemingly every time Rosie asked to play with her train set or her dollhouse with Emma, the mom was already stretched thin trying to soothe a screaming Junie. Usually having to ask her daughter to wait five minutes, which bled into fifteen minutes, which led to never, and as much as it broke her heart to disappoint the newly appointed big sister, she figured Rosie had far better reasoning skills then her baby sister did. Rosie soon realised that asking Alyssa to be her playmate was even more pointless then asking Emma. Which was fair considering how she’d spent almost the entirety of the time since they’d gotten home from the hospital recovering from the pure strain of the previous nine months. Emma had explained to the little girl that it was kind if they let Alyssa nap whilst baby sister was sleeping too, and Rosie who adored her mommy more than the entire world, had been happy to respect that. Though the brunette had been more than willing to snuggle with Rosie whenever she wanted, something they’d both taken full advantage of.</p><p>It wasn’t easy for Rosie, not having both of her parents undivided attention whenever she desired it, and despite the fountain of cuddles, she found herself getting frustrated about it pretty often, and being five and resultantly out of touch with her emotions she’d resorted to throwing the occasional tantrum or speaking back to either of her mom’s requests.</p><p>“Rosie, please can we tidy this up so nobody trips over your toys.” Alyssa asked, letting out a sigh that was probable slightly too exaggerated for the situation that consisted of magna-tiles spilling out of Rosie’s doorway and into the carpeted hallway, an obvious trip-hazard to the ever the health and safety freak mom, who’s heightened instincts seemed to detect any potential danger to the bundle, currently in her arms, faster then she’d ever been able to in her life.</p><p>“No! I playing like mama asked.” Rosie retorted, shooting a death-stare at her mom. To be fair to her, Emma had told her not half an hour before to go and play quietly in her room, and she was technically still sat in her room.</p><p>“Rosalie.” Alyssa warned at her daughter’s feisty reaction, the full naming was something she’d found herself equipping more and more in the past few days, unable to catch her full attention in any other way.</p><p>“No no no! I’m Rosie! Go away!” Rosie said, her voice rising to a shout that awakened the sleeping baby in Alyssa’s arms. She tried the slam the door on her mom, but from her awkward position from the floor she couldn’t quite get the right leverage, and even if she could have the pieces of plastic in the doorway, that had originally started the tiff, were blocking her from doing that.</p><p>At the sound of the familiar cry, Emma came to join the gathering in the hallway, immediately recognising the situation from the scowl on her daughter’s face, and the way Alyssa ran her free hand through her hair before shifting Juniper to her shoulder and beginning to bounce her softly.</p><p>“Hey hey- let’s all just take a breath, Rosie what’s wrong baby?” Emma quickly intervened. The one negative side of her daughter being a smaller version of her wife, is that they shared their fiery, somewhat argumentative personality, escalating things further then they needed to go rather swiftly sometimes and meaning Emma had to step in often to ensure nothing got too out of hand.</p><p>“Mommy said Rosie has to tidy up. But Rosie just doin’ what Mama told her to do.” Rosie stated, brow furrowed from the frustration she was feeling increasing her already unkept emotions.</p><p>“I know that I told you to play and thank you very much for doing that so nicely just like I asked, but we’ve got to be really careful to make sure that nobody who is carrying baby Junie falls over in case one of them gets hurt and putting our toys right there might make that happen.” Emma said calmly, understanding the girl’s upset. She placed a comforting hand on the small of Alyssa’s back, feeling the tension underneath her fingertips. It was a minor situation in the grand scheme of things, but Alyssa’s lack of sleep and the hormones coursing through her body clouded her vision too far for her to see that.</p><p>“No! Leave me alone!” Rosie snapped at Emma, clearly not interested in whatever reasoning she had to share for Alyssa’s unreasonable actions. She was seeing red herself and nothing her mama could say would stop that- which Emma knew.</p><p>“Ok Ro, I’m going to come back in five minutes, and if you haven’t put these back in your room by then we’re going to sit on the thinking chair until you’re ready to do that.” Emma calmly explained, knowing from past experience with her wife and subsequently her daughter, that pressing further never helped anybody, so it was instead better to leave her with some space to take the action for herself once she’d calmed down a little- which nine times out of ten she did.</p><p>The parents went into their bedroom to allow Rosie that space, that was now seemingly permanently covered in dirty sleepers and various other items of laundry. Alyssa set the mewling baby into the hand-me-down bassinet that had returned to its place at the foot of the bed, before stepping gently towards Emma, craving the comfort of her embrace which she was quickly welcomed into.</p><p>“She’ll be okay, she just needs to take things at her own pace. It’s not straightforward for her to understand how she’s feeling. She’s feeling some big things some for the first times and we can’t expect her to do everything just because we need it done. She’s still the same five-year-old.” Emma said, rubbing Alyssa’s back soothingly as she held her.</p><p>Alyssa hummed in agreement, “I know, I know- it just feels like she’s got it out for us a little bit, and she doesn’t seem as content with, or interested in Junie as she first did.” She said, stating the observation she’d made in the past days.</p><p>“Of course, she isn’t, it isn’t new and exciting anymore, she’s just something stealing her attention.” Emma mused, before speaking up again, “Besides, who can blame her, all she does eat, sleep and poop. It’s not like she can play with her yet and we both know if it can’t play with her, Ro is not interested.” She added, causing amusement to spread across her wife’s face. She had a point.</p><p>As much as it made proceedings a little more difficult, Emma and Alyssa both understood that it couldn’t be easy for Rosie to deal with and they didn’t blame her for her emotional reactions, it was something they’d been warned of by friends in similar circumstances. To make up for how patient and forgiving the little girl had been whilst the family acclimatised to the shift in dynamics, (despite the occasional meltdown) they agreed with her that as soon as the storm that was sweeping through their town blew over, they’d take her out for a lovely long walk, and she would be allowed to splash in as many puddles as she wanted. Rosie promptly agreed to that proposal, after all, what kid didn’t love splashing in puddles?</p><p> </p><p>They, of course, kept that promise and that Sunday the family ventured out for the first time as a family of four. Rosie was well-prepared, dressed in her trusty yellow waterproof coat and prized possession, her blue rain boots with little trucks on. One of the boys in her class had told her that they weren’t for girls, but Rosie had quickly dispelled that, calling him ridiculous because colours didn’t have genders, that’s what her moms always told her. Besides why did it matter what colour her boots were, their very purpose was to jump in muddy puddles so they always ended up so dirty that you could barely distinguish what colour they were through the brown sludge.</p><p>Jumping in puddles was Rosie’s favourite activity ever. It was the one time she was allowed to get as messy as she wanted outside, her mommy had explained that this was because her special boots were waterproof so her socks and feet wouldn’t get wet, but she didn’t care for the details. She just loved how it felt beneath her little feet, the satisfying splashes that sounded the same way it did when she dropped one of her toys into the bath but an outside version. Nothing could beat it; it was the best.</p><p>Emma and Alyssa had decided that driving to the local park would be the best way to approach Juniper’s first outing, the car could then act as a comfortable, warm safety net in case the newborn got fussy and needed a change or a feed or whatever else the baby so often needed. They were brave but they weren’t stupid. The park was also big enough and had a long enough walk that it would bring some excitement to Rosie to combat at least some of the cabin fever induced tantrums and hopefully tire her out so she could get some proper rest. Bedtimes had become a whole other battle and usually ended in tears from either party so anything to make that easier was a bonus.</p><p>Once they arrived Alyssa got to work strapping the youngest of the group snugly into a baby wrap, meaning she’d be as close as physically possible to her mother so she hopefully wouldn’t cry as much, and they wouldn’t have to bother lugging a stroller around the park that would be undoubtably muddy- a win-win situation.</p><p>“Mama out please!” Rosie called out loudly, clearly unimpressed that she was still strapped into her car seat, despite the fact that the car had only been in park for a matter of minutes. She was too excited, she just had to get out as soon as possible.</p><p>Emma chuckled lightly as she walked round to her daughter’s car door at her request, pulling it open as she was greeted with the cheesiest smile she’d ever seen from the little girl. As much as it had been a difficult adjustment Emma was so proud of how Rosie was coping with it all and she was really glad that they were finally getting to do something just for her. She expertly unclasped the buckle with a flick of the wrist and then pulled Rosie out of the vehicle, barely able to hold onto her as she wriggled in anticipation. She set her down and realised she was probably about to bolt in the direction of the lush green if she didn’t tell her otherwise.</p><p>“Rosie please stay over here whilst we wait for mommy to get organised.” Emma warned softly, smiling as the tiny figure stilled by the edge of their parking spot, though she was still clearly eager to get to the park. After all she had been waiting three whole days, that’s a long time for a five-year-old who’d been cooped up in the house for almost two weeks.</p><p>So, once the baby had been secured, Rosie had been zipped into her coat and the two moms had mentally prepared themselves for the, hopefully fun, next hour or so, they walked up to the grassy area, various hands holding onto various hands.</p><p>“Let’s go! Let’s go! Let’s go!” Rosie chanted with a giddy smile, her parents sharing a knowing look at her joy.</p><p>------</p><p>The adventure had so far been everything Rosie had ever dreamed of; she’d jumped in a number of puddles that were so big they’d exceeded all expectations. Maybe storms weren’t so bad if they could lead to this much fun even if they were really noisy. She’d happily skipped along just ahead of where Emma and Alyssa were walking hand in hand behind her, enjoying the fresh air just as much as Rosie evidently was.</p><p>“I’m glad we did this.” Alyssa mused quietly to her wife as she readjusted the hat of the infant on her front, discretely paranoid she’d catch a chill from the brisk autumn breeze.</p><p>“Me too, she’s so happy.” Emma commented with a smile as she instinctively kept an eye on Rosie. It was true. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d seen the little girl so content.</p><p>“She’s going to tire herself out in a minute, I bet you’ll end up carrying her the whole way back.” Alyssa predicted, almost eerily on time, for the next thing Emma heard before she could even try to deny what was almost certainly fact was a now rather drained sounding voice speak up from in front of them.</p><p>“Mama my leggies are just tired now.” Rosie sighed dramatically, drooping so low she was almost folded in half in an effort to prove how exhausted she truly was.</p><p>Alyssa smirked at her wife, her competitive side a little triumphant that she’d basically predicted the future based off of how well she knew the five-year-old, she watched Emma her shake her head before she responded fondly.</p><p>“Oh no! My poor baby,” she sympathised, matching the melodramatic tone in a way she personally found very amusing, “Do you need a carry?” Emma asked as they approached, closing the gap between them and the little girl who had come to a standstill on the edge of the path. She got nothing but a little pout and nod of the head, enough to indicate that that was in fact, exactly what Rosie had been after. Emma complied, reaching her arms out to her to lift her up onto her shoulders, something she’d done since Rosie had first learnt to sit up by herself. It might have gotten a little harder as the girl grew, but to Emma there was still nothing better than feeling her daughter’s tiny hands fist in her short blonde hair as happy squeals fell from her mouth at the feeling of practically being on top of the world.</p><p>The family walked together quietly for a little longer, Rosie still perched high upon Emma’s shoulders swinging her legs into her mom’s shoulders repeatedly, as they all enjoyed the way green leaves had faded into tones of yellows and reds and basked the landscape in a soft orange glow, this time of year was beautiful. All was tranquil and calm for the first time in a long time until Rosie spotted something that made her light up like a bulb.</p><p>“Look mama! Look mommy! Look Junie! A rainbow!!!!” She exclaimed, one hand slipping down to grasp Emma’s cheek and the other pointing up to the sky above them where there was a bright rainbow painted across the sky. Rosie thought that rainbows were even cooler than puddles- which was a very big deal, so seeing a rainbow made her even happier than she already was.</p><p>“Wow! Good spot Ro!” Emma praised once she saw it, reaching up a careful had to high five the little girl, careful not to let her slip from her seat at all.</p><p>Alyssa watched them for a moment, encapsulated by the tender innocence, before she followed the direction of the little finger until her eyes locked onto the thing of such natural beauty, letting Rosie know that she’d seen it too after receiving an expectant glare down from above. Rainbows had always made her smile, ever since she was a child. First in the way they were so colourful and the way she couldn’t quite explain how they got there which made it even more magical. And then through the pride related connotations that lead her to secretly collect rainbow-related items before she’d even come out to her mom- these things then ended up on display in the various apartments they’d lived in over the years and a few of them could still be found around the Nolan-Greene residence up to that day.</p><p>But in that moment the rainbow served as something she hadn’t realised she’d been desperate for- some hope. Hope that they’d adjust to the new addition soon so Alyssa would feel more like she was floating rather than drowning. Hope that Rosie would get through the major change in dynamic they’d thrown at her and eventually learn to love her sister unconditionally. Hope that one day in the future they’d come on this walk and each have a pair of worn-out legs sat on their shoulders. And most of all hope that meant she knew she would always be ok, so long as she had her family beside her.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>thank you for reading!</p><p>i love getting comments on these because a) it gives kate and i something to talk about regarding what is basically now a rosie cult, and b) i'm never too sure whether people actually like these very much at all considering it's something a little different.</p><p>comments &amp; kudos appreciated as always :)</p></blockquote></div></div>
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